THANOS’ ROLE IN THE ANNIHILATION EVENT

Annihilation was a series of books mostly written by Keith Giffen that told of an incursion into our universe by Annihilus (of the Negative Zone). Thanos doesn’t have much to do in it–he’s really an observer. But what’s interesting is these two pages. The first is from the Prologue to the event, and we see Thanos exactly how we left him: Accompanied by Death, who has taken the form of a child.

In the story, Thanos seems to be on the side of Annihilus, but, of course, he betrays his so-called ally. Like he always does.

And when the event is over….

Death has become a full-grown woman, and Thanos is smiling.

Honestly, I’m not sure what this meant–or was supposed to mean. Giffen immediately left Marvel, and the team of Abnett and Lanning took over Marvel’s cosmic line. And they didn’t use Thanos until 2010. So, between 2006 and 2010 we got only glimpses of the Mad Titan–he went from being a major player in the Marvel world to a side character.

Next, we’ll look at those strange, fringe appearances before we get to The Thanos Imperative, the big 2010 event that brought him back to the fore.